Saving Ocean Sensors - The Fight Over the Ocean Observatories Initiative

Save Ocean Sensors: The Fight Over the Ocean Observatories Initiative

A $386 million network of nearly 900 ocean sensors stretching across five sites from Oregon to Alaska to Greenland was being quietly dismantled, with no warning to Congress and no explanation to the public. In this episode, we trace the fight to save the Ocean Observatories Initiative: what this network actually does, why it matters far more than most people realize, and how a Democrat from Oregon and a Republican from Alaska teamed up to pass a bill stopping it in the span of a day and a half.

We talk with Craig McLean, who spent more than 40 years at NOAA, including two stints as NOAA's Chief Scientist, about what's really at stake when ocean monitoring infrastructure disappears, and why this fight is part of a much bigger pattern. We also revisit a warning from a past guest, marine ecologist Dr. Andrew Thaler, that's looking less hypothetical by the day, and lay out exactly what you can do to help make sure this win sticks.

In This Episode

What the Ocean Observatories Initiative actually measures, and why it matters for your weather forecast, your insurance rates, and what farmers plant each season

The Coastal Endurance Array off Oregon and Washington, and why pulling it out right as an El Nino forms is especially bad timing, per OSU oceanographer Jack Barth

How Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) found out sensors were already being removed, and how they got the Saving the OOI Act passed unanimously in under two days

Craig McLean's read on why this kept happening, from the role of the Office of Management and Budget to the broader pattern of cuts to federal science

A look back at a warning from marine ecologist Dr. Andrew Thaler about Project 2025's plans for NOAA, and how that warning is playing out in real time

What happens next: the NSF's review process, and how you can track it and find out where your own senators stand

Featured Voices

Craig McLean spent over 40 years at NOAA, where he founded the Ocean Exploration Program and served as NOAA's Chief Scientist, including being reinstated after being removed from the role for defending scientific integrity. He is now a senior fellow at the Ocean Foundation.